The suit was filed Monday at the Federal District Court here. At issue are ten patents issued by Kodak from 1987 to 2003 involving file compression, storage and other digital and video technologies.

For its part, Sony released a statement stating: "Sony has not violated any Kodak patent relating to digital imaging and will vigorously defend any allegations made in this regard."

According to published reports, the two had been trying to negotiate a licensing arrangement for the past three years. Kodak said it filed suit only after it became clear the talks were failing to accomplish anything.